Chuck and Meryl Walle looked after us on Tuesday evening.
Mirce is a wonderful pastor from Skopje, the capital of Macedonia
After having breakfast with Ian and Seb this morning we parted company until tomorrow afternoon. Jay and Wendy are pastors from a suburb in Tacoma and are part of the team of leaders who foster unity and purpose in the city. Tacoma is about an hour south of Seattle and about 450,000 population. We picked up Ruth and Sarah Ruibal at the airport on the way and it was good to see them again. They were both in Canberra as I mentioned before.
We drove to Tacoma, had lunch and then I went off to meet with a Macedonian pastor who is also here for the Consultation. He is a big guy called Mirche (don’t ask about spelling, but the pronunciation is something like “mech-ay”) . What a great bloke. There are a very small number of evangelical churches in Macedonia and he has been involved in planting thirty five of them. They have been moving to bring the evangelical churches together in the country and it is very hard there. It is a great joy to meet such a persistent and strong servant of God. They have seen some very significant things in that country where leaders who would never really like to be together have not only come and prayed together but have repented for their division and their suspicion of one another. God is beginning to create the situation where ethnic walls are being torn down through the grace and mercy of Jesus and by the courage of some of the leaders.
We went to a meeting this afternoon with some other leaders where we shared some stories and then prayed together. The meeting was set up by the international leader of the Pastors Prayer Summits Network, Dennis. He has been to Australia and actually visited Canberra when I wasn’t there. He met up with Steve Hall from Queanbeyan.
We were taken to the home where we are staying for this evening and after team some of the leadership team from the Tacoma area met there for some more sharing and prayer. This has been a very valuable add-on experience. It is always helpful to see what pastors and leaders are doing in another area. There are always insights and warnings and observations that help you to think through the issues.
I am sure that there is a refining of the vision going on, possibly all around the world. It’s easy to use those words as a euphemism for “nothing very exciting is happening,” but I don’t think it is justified in this case. There are some strong threads being woven into a fabric here that would have the capacity not only to qualify for God to visit but perhaps to enable him to take up habitation. The question is, can we build a “house” for God to dwell in? Can the church desire this kind of house and not the one that is built out of personal ambition and pride.
Chuck and Meryl are our hosts for tonight. They are such great people. Warm hearted and very hospitable.
Tomorrow we are at a meeting in Trinity Church in downtown Tacoma before heading out to the Lodge where the Consultation is being held.
Thank you to those who are praying for us. Love to you.
Brian
We drove to Tacoma, had lunch and then I went off to meet with a Macedonian pastor who is also here for the Consultation. He is a big guy called Mirche (don’t ask about spelling, but the pronunciation is something like “mech-ay”) . What a great bloke. There are a very small number of evangelical churches in Macedonia and he has been involved in planting thirty five of them. They have been moving to bring the evangelical churches together in the country and it is very hard there. It is a great joy to meet such a persistent and strong servant of God. They have seen some very significant things in that country where leaders who would never really like to be together have not only come and prayed together but have repented for their division and their suspicion of one another. God is beginning to create the situation where ethnic walls are being torn down through the grace and mercy of Jesus and by the courage of some of the leaders.
We went to a meeting this afternoon with some other leaders where we shared some stories and then prayed together. The meeting was set up by the international leader of the Pastors Prayer Summits Network, Dennis. He has been to Australia and actually visited Canberra when I wasn’t there. He met up with Steve Hall from Queanbeyan.
We were taken to the home where we are staying for this evening and after team some of the leadership team from the Tacoma area met there for some more sharing and prayer. This has been a very valuable add-on experience. It is always helpful to see what pastors and leaders are doing in another area. There are always insights and warnings and observations that help you to think through the issues.
I am sure that there is a refining of the vision going on, possibly all around the world. It’s easy to use those words as a euphemism for “nothing very exciting is happening,” but I don’t think it is justified in this case. There are some strong threads being woven into a fabric here that would have the capacity not only to qualify for God to visit but perhaps to enable him to take up habitation. The question is, can we build a “house” for God to dwell in? Can the church desire this kind of house and not the one that is built out of personal ambition and pride.
Chuck and Meryl are our hosts for tonight. They are such great people. Warm hearted and very hospitable.
Tomorrow we are at a meeting in Trinity Church in downtown Tacoma before heading out to the Lodge where the Consultation is being held.
Thank you to those who are praying for us. Love to you.
Brian
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